My Sister's Killer
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [what-if] Hokuto meets Seishirou before his fated meeting with Subaru, and now Subaru must deal with his sister's death before the the truth.


**A/N: **Written for the Mega Prompts Challenge on the AMF, writing prompts #076 – write a multichip with exactly six chapters, including prologues, epilogues etc. So six chapters it'll be…so long as it doesn't mutate from the original plan.

A bit of a what-if here… Nothing much else to say. :D

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**My Sister's Killer  
Prologue**

The both of them knew Hokuto was weak, but she had insulted his pride in his disguise and he still smiled at her like the dangerous animal he was.

She hadn't lied, though. She _had_ known, the moment she'd laid eyes on him and heard the all too suspicious story of their encounter. Maybe Subaru hadn't picked up on it, but Hokuto had found it strange a man with some onmyoujitsu potential – though he had empathically denied having any ability – would not have noticed the heavy spiritual pressure that had passed through Tokyo Station that day. Instead, he'd only been "innocently reading a newspaper when your brother tripped right in front of me," as he had claimed.

Her onmyoujitsu potential wasn't anything to boast at, but she'd sensed weaker spiritual pressures than what Subaru had been chasing that day. Still, she'd given him the benefit of the doubt – until she saw beneath those dark frames of his, saw the blood that stained those black eyes. It was too late to do anything then, but play along. Too late to save face.

So she planned instead, planned what to do when time ran out on his brother's watch, when the Sakurazukamori stopped hiding his face and revealed his true self. And between that she watched, and hoped, that the face she was seeing was the face of a changing man, a man who could keep his secret forever and truly love his brother – just as Subaru had slowly grown to love him.

She was one of those people who believed in love at first sight. Maybe it was instinct. Or maybe it was some part of her heritage, the weak onmyoujitsu power she possessed. But she'd known, just as she'd known there was something suspicious about him, that he would become a special person in Subaru's life. All she could do then was hope it would never come to the point where her brother would suffer for destiny's slight.

Except Seishirou had taken off his glasses with a slight smirk on his lips. 'You've caught me,' he said, without a hint of warmth or remorse in his tone. 'What now?'

She wished she hadn't, that she'd been wrong and they could avoid the mess that was sure to follow. But that was impossible; more important than her foolish dream that it would somehow all work out was Subaru's happiness, and more important than _that_ was his life. 'I can't let you kill Subaru,' she said, finally.

'You can't?' His tone was amused, but once again Hokuto felt the absence of humour and warmth that she'd known – known to be a lie but had hoped would, gradually, turn in to the truth. Now there was no time for that. 'You're too weak to stop me.'

'I know.' She smiled, sadly. She'd hoped, so badly, this day would never come, but it had. Subaru was going to be sad no matter how things turned out, but she was banking on hope, and the two of them, to live on. Things could change, so long as those things still lived. If she could plant the seeds, they might have the time to grow in future years. 'But there is something I can do that he can't. So…' She closed her eyes. 'Let Subaru live…and kill me instead.'

She felt relieved when pain exploded in her chest; he'd done it, without any question or complaint. She wondered if he knew her plan, as he withdrew his hand and blood burst from the wound left behind. She fell backwards, what little power she possessed humming through her veins and knitting together one last spell.

She fell against something strong and soft; him, holding her up. She might have teased him then, about how much of a gentleman he pretended to be, but the life would too quickly slip from her body. There were more important things she had to say.

He was still smiling, not the smile she'd come to know over the year but an emptier one, one simply noting a duty done. Her smile was another sort entirely: brimming with tears but alive, still alive, with hope.

'Why are you smiling?' he asked, holding her up as her life's blood dripped into the carpet – Subaru's carpet. He'd cry for her, Hokuto thought, and a stab of guilt touched her then, outweighed by the pain that dribbled from that wound in her chest. 'I've killed you…and I'm about to go and kill your brother.'

'I…know,' she said, coughing as blood rose in her throat. 'But I don't want…either of you to…' She coughed again, this time feeling a little of that warm liquid spill down her chin. '…to die.' Her eyes slipped closed. 'I knew…I knew you'd wind up…taking Subaru…away…but I – ' She coughed again, and this time a bit of blood splattered onto the robes she wore – her brother's ceremonial robes. 'Sakurazukamori…'

Maybe he was surprised at the way she said his title; maybe not. She couldn't see, and the arms that were holding her did not change. 'I know who…you are...and that's why…'

'You'll make Subaru sad.' There is amusement in his tone this time. Fake amusement, the one she could only pretend to believe – and she could pretend again…one last time. 'And why would you want me to live? I am the Sakurazukamori; the enemy of your family. Your murderer…and the man who'll kill your brother.'

'You can't kill…Subaru.' She forced her eyes open. His face swam into view, hazy and indistinct. 'He can't…kill you…but I think…you're the only people in the world…'

'That can kill each other.' Now the amusement is real, she thinks, and it makes a little sense why. 'So you have found out our secret.'

She smiled, a small, but happy smile. 'Then you know what…' she breathed, '…and why…this spell…' Her eyes fluttered closed again, and he dropped her, letting her collapse gently on the couch behind them.

He did know, but in his mind it made little difference to the outcome. There were too many loopholes, too many ways around that spell. He didn't see _how_ such a thing was going to help Subaru. It gave him a way out, on the other hand. If he did, in the few hours remaining, lose the bet he'd made with himself…

It was interesting, but soon it would be meaningless.

'Sumeragi Hokuto,' he said aloud, to the slumped body, still slowly dripping blood. 'I wonder…how soon it will be before I forget you.'

She was the first person to discover him for what he was…but still, that would change nothing. He looked at his hand, shimmering in the morning light with her blood. The same hand that had killed his mother, and countless victims thereafter. The same hand that would kill countless more, until the one person he could never kill would kill him.

That person might be Sumeragi Subaru…or somebody else. It didn't matter; he would find the answer soon enough – with or without the help of Hokuto's spell.

Maybe…if he did see that spell again, he'd understand what made her do such a thing. But in the meantime… He put his glasses back on, hiding his blood-reflecting eyes from the corpse that lay in front of him. 'Subaru-kun…I wonder what I'll feel when I see your tears today.'


End file.
